An experimental study was made of a target consisting of the minimum mass of pure tin (Sn) necessary for the highest conversion to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light while minimizing the generation of plasma debris. The minimum-mass target comprised a thin Sn layer coated on a plastic shell and was irradiated with a $\mathrm{Nd}:\mathrm{YAG}$ laser pulse. The expansion behavior of neutral atoms and singly charged ions emanating from the Sn plasma were investigated by spatially resolved visible spectroscopy. A remarkable reduction of debris emission in the backward direction with respect to the incident laser beam was demonstrated with a decrease in the thickness of the Sn layer. The optimal thickness of the Sn layer for a laser pulse of $9\mathrm{ns}$ at $7\times {10}^{10}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ was found to be $40\mathrm{nm}$ , at which low-debris emission in the backward direction and a high conversion to $13.5\mathrm{nm}$ EUV radiation were simultaneously attained.

We studied Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) emission characteristics of the 13.5 nm wavelength from CO₂ laser-irradiated pre-formed tin plasmas using 2D radiation hydrodynamic simulations. Our results indicate that when a CO₂ laser irradiates pre-formed tin plasma, the heated plasma expands towards the surrounding plasma, steepening the density at the ablation front and lowering the density near the laser axis due to the transverse motion of the plasma. Consequently, the laser absorption fraction decreases, and the contribution to EUV output from the ablation front becomes dominant over that from the low-density plasmas. We estimated that an EUV conversion efficiency of 10% from laser to EUV emission could be achieved with a larger laser spot size, shortened laser pulse width, and longer pre-formed plasma density scale length. Our results offer one optimizing solution to achieve an efficient and powerful EUV light source for the next-generation semiconductors.

Out-of-band (OOB) radiation, in contrast to the in-band radiation at 13.5 nm in a 2% bandwidth, emitted from dense tin plasmas generated by a laser was investigated for application as an extreme ultraviolet lithography light source. It was found that the continuum spectrum, which overwhelms the atomic and ionic line emissions, is responsible for the intense OOB radiation. The spectral distribution of the continuum emission matches that of blackbody radiation with a temperature of about 10 eV. The OOB radiation can be considerably suppressed by employing a minimum-mass target and short-pulse laser irradiation. Spectroscopic observations were made to examine the spatiotemporal behavior of the plasma immediately after laser irradiation. Prominent line broadening due to the Stark effect in the high-density plasma was observed, from which the variation of the electron density was deduced. The electron density and temperature on the target surface were ${10}^{17}–{10}^{18}{\text{cm}}^{-3}$ and a few eV’s, respectively, in the first 200 ns after laser illumination. In addition, the expansion velocities of neutral and singly ionized tin atoms were deduced from time-of-flight transients in the spectral emission.

Properties of nitrogen cluster plasmas produced by an intense, ultrashort laser pulse have been investigated numerically and experimentally. The classical dynamics simulations show that on increasing the cluster size a plasma with residual electron energy above $1\mathrm{keV}$ can be created due to collisional heating, which is considerably higher than the value obtained with a conventional low-density gas target. Experimentally, nitrogen gas jets created by two types of nozzles were irradiated with a laser pulse of $55\mathrm{fs}$, up to $1.2\times {10}^{17}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. A seeded gas jet consisting of nitrogen and helium was also employed to promote the production of large clusters. The influences of the shape of nozzle, the seeded gas, and the gas jet stagnation pressure on the properties of plasmas were examined by spectroscopic observations. $K$-shell emissions showed that for the gas jet using the conical nozzle the electrons underwent intense collisional heating within the large clusters, resulting in the production of highly charged ions. In contrast, the emissions observed with the capillary nozzle exhibited the characteristics of a cold plasma without suffering substantial electron heating, indicating the absence of large clusters. That is, the differences between the two types of nozzles in the efficiency of electron heating and subsequent residual energies after the passage of the laser pulse, which are strongly dependent upon the cluster size, drastically changed the properties of the produced plasmas. The reason that for the capillary gas jet the plasma density deduced from the recombination spectra was significantly higher than the value obtained using the conical nozzle is also given by the difference in residual electron energy.

We demonstrated an efficient extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source at a wavelength of 13.5 nm using spatially separated multiple solid-state-laser pulse irradiation. The maximum conversion efficiency (CE) achieved was 3.8% for ±30° oblique laser pulse injection, which was about twice as high as that for single laser pulse irradiation of 1.7%, with an EUV source size of about 100 μm for two spatially separated laser pulses with a total laser energy of 500 mJ at a laser intensity of 2×1011 W/cm2. In addition, we achieved an EUV CE of 4.7% for ±60° oblique laser pulse injection, which was one of the highest values ever reported, in the case of a 1-μm solid-state laser-produced planar Sn target plasma by multiple laser pulse irradiation. This result suggests that multiple laser-pulse irradiation at high repetition rate operation could credibly provide the next technology for future high-power EUV sources and exposure tools toward future EUV technology nodes.

We develop two cascade arc plasma sources for application to plasma windows for virtual vacuum interfaces. For windowless vacuum–atmosphere separation, a compact arc discharge source having a channel diameter of 3 mm is fabricated, and an atmospheric Ar thermal plasma is generated. For an alternative differential pumping system, separating low- and high-pressure vacuum chambers, a larger arc device with an 8-mm diameter is also constructed, producing a high-density He plasma. The performances of the two cascade arcs as plasma windows are investigated. The 3-mm arc discharge generates a steep pressure gradient of Ar 100 kPa–100 Pa through the discharge channel, while the 8-mm discharge apparatus isolates the high-pressure side at 7 kPa from the lower pressure of 54 Pa. Emission spectroscopy of visible and vacuum UV radiation reveals the characteristics of the Ar and He plasmas. Spectral analysis yields a plasma temperature of around 1 eV in both discharges. Stark broadenings of the H-β and Ar I lines give an electron density of 6.5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ for Ar 60 A with a gas flow rate of 1.0 l/min and 4.7 × 10¹³ cm⁻³ under a He 100-A and 0.45-l/min condition.